Comprehension Practice

Gifted People

1 The world has seen some of the greatest brains come and go as the sands of time recede and progress in history. Geniuses are born aplenty but they are measured in terms of the contribution they make to the rest of mankind. They are the restless spirits, the gods of tomorrow and the misunderstood fanatics who sometimes lay buried under an unmarked tombstone.

2 The geniuses of yesterday had bordered on the eccentric. Hardly a single genius existed who was not thought of being slightly zany or downright nutty. There have been those who have been totally misunderstood, who throve to make themselves understood as saviours of mankind and who only succeeded in driving themselves into their own graves.

3 The world has not been kind to many geniuses and few live on in the memories of man as people who upheld the highest degree of inventiveness and cerebral perception which was light years away from the average man. Geniuses are seen in their exceptional abilities in areas of art, literature, music, science and mathematics.

4 Their memory and understanding of given situations is infinitely superior to
others and they are able to interprete and act on events using their own cognitive
skills. They build on the facts which they derive through their own
interpretation with great energy. Most of them begin as child prodigies though
some are latent geniuses.

5 A musical genius for instance is able to hold many melodies at the same time in his head. The ability to find the co-relation between these melodies and make adjustments in the head is effortless for such people. Mozart, it was said, completed entire musical compositions in his head and only commenced to write them when they had been completely composed. He was able to compose five or six or sometimes even seven compositions simultaneously in his head. Bach, Beethoven and Chopin composed in the same way.

6 Emotion wise, geniuses live an existence which is vastly different from their average Joe counterparts. They are often portrayed as being absent-minded, lacking in social niceties and given to sporadic, eccentric behaviour. Newton was supposed to have a vile temper which hampered his relationship with his peers. Their lack in the social field borders on autism and being misunderstood, live lonely lives. The logical contention that follows is that if one is particularly brilliant in one aspect it would naturally follow that coping with the elements in

one’s life which would be perfectly easy for an average individual would be extremely difficult for the genius.

7 Given the facts it would appear that a genius would only focus on that aspect of his life that he is most gifted in. His leaning towards that field would be seen as obsessive or even compulsive. The geniuses are often ostracized by his peers. Being born with an IQ which is above 145, geniuses often find themselves living on the edge of society. The natural deduction is that as the IQ increases the number of people with whom the genius can find companionship with decreases.

8 Still geniuses have left lasting legacies to benefit mankind. Though they led comparatively lonely, even embittered circumstances as was with Mozart at the end, their lives seem to have been led not for their own benefit but for others. Their creative sparks are seen as monumental bursts of energy which they cannot help but exude only to serve the betterment of mankind and rarely for their own sensual pleasures. As such geniuses are often misunderstood and sometimes relegated to the ranks of oddities, one point remains clear though, the world would be a different place without them.

Para 1
1. What does the author mean by “the gods of tomorrow?”
It means that geniuses have the power to control much of the events of the world in the future through their brilliance.

Para 2
2. How could they have driven themselves into their own graves?
They must have persevered in their findings and been heavily criticized or even punished which could have caused their deaths.

Para 3
3. What does “light years away from the average man” mean?
It means that geniuses were so brilliant that in terms of intelligence they far outdistanced the average man.

Para 4
4. What can they do which is infinitely better than others? Answer in your
own words.
They are able to interprete and act on events on their own and act on these facts with a lot of energy.

5. What does “latent genius” refer to?
It means someone who develops his abilities and becomes a genius at a later stage in life.

Para 5
6. What does “holding many melodies at the same time” mean?
It means that the musical genius is able to compose several compositions in his head simultaneously.

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Para 6
7. What seems to be a disadvantage for geniuses?
They are not able to sustain an emotional relationship as their eccentric behaviour causes misunderstanding causing them to lead lonely lives.

Para 7
8. What does “living on the edge of society” refer to?
Geniuses are misunderstood and spend their lives in pursuit of the knowledge they are fascinated by. Therefore they do not have relationships or friendships like other people causing them to live on the edge.

9. What does the deduction about the increase and decrease refer to?
It means that as the genius is obsessed with his findings and pursuit of knowledge, his brilliance is seen while his relationships suffer.

Para 8
10. Why is it geniuses have no “pleasures” of their own?
They do not as they only live to serve the rest of mankind and so their own pleasures are neglected.

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CHAPTER ONE
Born gifted
Passage A

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1 Gifted children stand apart from the norm. They are miles ahead of their peers in their emotive and perceptive levels of growth but have the same physical growth as the rest of them. They are resigned to their quaint little worlds and unless they have the right support and nurturing environment, it is very possible that their gift could very easily go astray and be reduced to waste.

2 Some of the biggest brains in the world work for the betterment of communities. They are role models, government leaders, prize winners and academically accomplished. But the best brains do not necessarily go that way. It took some of the best brains in the world to think of a strategy which could pull off a mission on the scale of the 9/11 attack in New York in 2004.

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3 Nurturing a gifted child is a complicated task. Some of these gifted children were actually thought of as being slow developers when this is actually a case of latent genius development. In Albert Einstein’s case he could not learn to speak until he was two. In our age and time he would be classified as being slightly abnormal.

4 Fortunately for him his genius shone through when he was a few years older and his mathematical mind astounded the world with his theories. There is no agreed standard by which a child’s intelligence is measured. For decades psychometricians and psychologists have equated giftedness with IQ. Though IQ tests are still performed as standards to determine intelligence researchers such as Cattell, Guilford and Thurstone have argued that it would be impossible to be gauged in such a uniform way.

5 Other determinants of giftedness have been studied. Creativity in children is one of the earliest determinants of giftedness. Music, art and being articulate are one of the key areas in which a child’s ability is seen straightaway. Giftedness is seen in multiple qualities and not being reliant on the drill of IQ tests alone.

6 Joseph Renzeulli’s research showed that three basic components determined if a child was far ahead of his peers. One was to have above average ability. Whether this ability was seen in language skills, drawing, arranging his room the main point was that it was done in a definitive way which showed skill and independence.

7 The second component was high levels of task commitment. The child was expected to show an unusual amount of commitment to any given task. Motivation played a key factor in this area and the child was expected to perform without any outside interference. Taking a task through from beginning to finish was a key determinant of the child’s independence and strength.

8 The third was high levels of creativity. The child was expected to perform creatively in any given area. Most expect creativity to only reside in musical or art fields but creativity in its broadest sense refers to the ability to transform the commonplace into something which shows thought, draws out the essence of the work or message and above all illustrates the inventive spirit of the child. This can even be seen in the very simple exercise of an activity like Christmas card making.

9 Children who show the ability to interact among the three clusters need to have a wide variety of educational opportunities and services which are not ordinarily through regular instructional programs. These children cannot afford to be assessed by mainstream educational authorities but require special tutelage to draw out their skills to the best of their advantage which in turn would benefit the community eventually. Giftedness in children is a quality which is determined by birth and nurturing it plays a crucial part in assuring that this quality does not go astray.

 

Para 1
1. Why, inspite of the advantages they possess, does the author say that their gift could go astray? Answer in your own words.
Their gift could go astray if they are not given the nurturing that they deserve which would mean that they would be trapped in their own worlds.

Para 2
2. What are the best brains capable of? Answer in your own words.

The best brains are capable of serving the communities in society by occupying leadership positions, political platforms or being outstanding in learning while at the same time they could invent operations which could cause much chaos in society.

Para 3
3. Paraphrase the phrase “latent genius.”
It means someone who is gifted who develops this quality at a later stage in life.

Para 4
4.Though there are no standards to measure genius why are IQ tests still being used? IQ tests measure the intelligence of a gifted child up to a certain point and therefore are still seen as the correct way to examine intelligence.

Para 5
5.How is the multiple quality determination of a gifted child a better way than IQ tests?
The multiple quality determination is better as it actually attempts to examine more areas of the child’s gift compared to what an IQ test does which would include music, art and being articulate.

Para 6
6. What does arranging the room have to do with an above average mind? Answer in your
own words.
It simply shows that even when a gifted child does something as common as arranging a room it can be done in a creative way which is different from how a child who is not gifted would do it.

Para 7
7. What was the true determinant? Answer in your own words.
The true determinant was to accomplish a task right from scratch to finish.

Para 8
8. Why is the high level of creativity so important in determining a genius?
It is important as it shows the ability to transform something which is ordinary into something which denotes intuition, emphasizes the meaning of the work or message and highlights the creativity of the child.

Para 7,8 and 9
9. How are the clusters supposed to indicate a child’s above average performance?
They are all testing the child’s creativity, determination and independence.

10. Vocabulary
From Passage A
i recede
ii cognitive
Passage B
iii gauged (para 4) measured
iv determinant (para 7) indication
v commonplace (para 8) ordinary

11. Summary
Give an account of how the gifted child’s intelligence is assessed and how the child is different from average children.
Your answer should be from paragraph 4 till the end.
Begin with “ For decades experts and scientists had measured giftedness in terms of IQ tests but they alone were inadequate.”